An Organic Lifestyle (Organic Growing Pains)

We are all survivors,consider the changes we have witnessed. We were born before television,penicillin,polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox,contact lenses,frisbees and the Pill. We were before radar,credit cards, laser beams and ballpoint pens. We were before panty hose,dish washers,clothes driers, electric blankets,air conditioners,drip dry clothing and man walking on the moon. We got married first then lived together, how quaint can you be?! We were before house husbands,gay rights, computer dating and dual careers. We were before daycare centres, group therapy,shopping malls and nursing homes. We had never heard of FM radio,tape decks, electric typewriters,artificial hearts,word processors, mobile phones,email,yogurt and guys wearing ear rings. For us Time Sharing meant togetherness not computers or condominiums. A Chip meant a piece of wood Hardware meant hardware and software was not even a word. In 1950 'made in Japan' meant junk and the term 'making out'referred to h...

Thank you all for your good wishes on the previous post, I promised this post on my weekend in Limerick and have finally gotten around to uploading it no thanks to Google as I had to upload each photo 3 times!! The Treaty Stone is symbolic of Limerick and is situated near the Thomond bridge.The treaty was reputedly signed on a stone in sight of the two warring armies at each side of the bridge in 1691, surrendering the city to William of Orange. St John's Castle with the Thomond bridge over the river Shannon, note the 2 dogs going for a paddle! The river frontage all along the city is beautifully restored and maintained with walkways. The Thomond bridge I found another Masonic Lodge! An iron footbridge linking the old potato market. The Hunt Museum, one of two museums of which the city can boast.A lovely lady on the reception desk told us admisson was free on a Sunday or 2 for 1 on a monday and a photographic exhibition which was running at the time was free. It was the weekend of...

Some months ago Zwena encouraged us to enter for the inaugural RDS allotment awards, I did eventually enter probably on the last date for posting entries! I am not sure if any or how many of the other plotters entered. I received an email to invite me to attend the awards ceremony held in the RDS in Dublin yesterday.I was dubious about going but then thought I had not been to Dublin for quite a while and booked my train ticket and set off spending some time in the city centre shopping etc before heading out to the RDS showgrounds to the Presidents chamber in the members Club! I watched the various categories being presented and nearly did a double take when my name appeared on the screen with photos of our plot and my name was called out to go and receive a prize! I have been awarded the Experienced Gardener Award 2010 with a beautiful silver RDS medal and a cheque for e500. I was absolutely stunned as I seemed to be the only one there who was not aware that everyone present was shortl...

I wonder where those 2 weeks went to?! I know the birthday celebrations went on a bit, I have been away for a few days (will do a post on my trip to Limerick ). I had a chest infection and have been off the cigarettes now for 7 days (who is counting?), not being able to breathe is as good a reason as any to give 'em up! Sitting at the computer has been curtailed as I would automatically reach for a cigarette. I did not go to the allotment last week as I did not feel up to it so this morning I did remember to take the camera and also do some winter tidying up. The harvest is winter warming veg, carrots, parsnips and cabbage, most of which have now been added to a big pot of soup which is cooling before blitzing with the blender. Would Pirates of the Caribbean like some real life veg from Davy Jones locker? These are what grew of our Celeriac plants, the photo makes them look quite large but they are less than golf ball size in reality!I added one of them to my pot of soup just to m...

I only seem to get out to the plot on Tues mornings lately, or else forget the camera.The sun shone this morning and it was a crisp autumn day, quite windy but a big improvement on last year when we were almost submerged.Our pumpkin is growing slower and slower! The first large one rotted away underneath and this is the next biggest one, I don't think it will become any record size over the next few weeks! View of the plot in the sunshine,I removed most of the supports and netting from the beds where it is no longer needed so the plot looks quite bare. The fruit cage is the next one to be taken down and packed away for next year. Harvest for today which I think is quite good for Oct! Carrots, tomatoes,leeks,beetroot,lettuce and globe artichokes, I pulled 2 of our biggest leeks which are fine as they will stay in the ground until next year, to be used as needed over the winter.Tomatoes are still ripening on the vine if a little slower as time goes on but I am not complaining. The ki...

I went out to the allotment yesterday for my first visit in over a week, Kathryn had been up a few times to keep things in order and continue harvesting.I noticed a clump of large leaves and decided to pull a parsnip. Pulling made no impact so I loosened some of the surrounding earth with my fingers, thought this is more like a turnip size than a parsnip and got a small hand trowel. This proved as useless but I did see that this was no ordinary parsnip! The large digging fork was brought into loosen more earth and finally the spade, by this time I had a fairly large hole excavated but there was no move from the parsnip!Short of bringing in a mechanical digger and disturbing the remainder of the plants,I pulled and tugged and eventually it broke off leaving I would think a fairly sizable chunk in the hole. The parsnip won the tussle as I ended up on my bum on the ground. I did take some photos of the parsnip in the hole but I must have inadvertently moved the settings on my camera and t...

Culture night takes place in various cities and venues around the country and tonight was the night.There are lots of places which would not normally be open to the public on show or places that would normally charge a fee were free, it takes place in the evening to allow people who work during the daytime to partake in the event. We opted for the Freemason Masonic hall for our venture into culture! Places were limited so it was one of the venues which had to be prebooked. I did not take my camera not expecting to be allowed to take photographs but there were no restrictions on snap happy sightseers, daughter Aisling had her small camera and took the following photos. First one is a huge mosaic over the door with various symbols the four plaster casts surrounding it depict the 4 Evangelists. The plaster casts came from the rebuilding of our St Finbarre's Cathedral, the figures surround the west window in the present cathedral. Very Bell,Book and candle! Aisling enthroned! The only...